


Unintended Consequences

by psychophoenix



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Betrayal, Flash Fic, Flash Fiction, M/M, Magical Realism, Meanie with a side of Jihan, Soulmate AU, Urban Fantasy, angsty ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-27
Updated: 2020-09-27
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:41:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26436610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/psychophoenix/pseuds/psychophoenix
Summary: Indicator Packages are sent to every eligible individual and contain two things: an item and a note that states the circumstances of how one finds their Intended. But even as Wonwoo gets his, he knows about the rumors that the system was a rotten one, with sacrifices having to be made for the price of true love.
Relationships: Jeon Wonwoo/Kim Mingyu
Comments: 12
Kudos: 33
Collections: Challenge 2: Betrayal





	Unintended Consequences

When Wonwoo hit 18 years of age, the parcel was delivered to his home. The box was small, easy to overlook, but it held his future in it. The item and message in boxes like those, known as Indicators, were instrumental in finding his soulmate.

If the rumors were to be believed, the Indicator System was cursed. Even so, there were a lot of success stories. Loving couples and happy families smiled and waved on advertisements throughout the city. His friends, Joshua and Jeonghan, got matched up by the System. While they've practically been attached at the hip even before they got their Indicators, their chemistry was undeniable.

Inside the box was a camera.

With hands trembling, he opened the note.

_Jeon Wonwoo,_

_You will capture the world's beauty with this lens until the time comes when it is time for you to meet your Intended. But when you do, be warned. To capture their image with it means to lose all sight... forever._

"Man, that's messed up." He whispered raggedly with a shake of his head, tears threatening to spill from his eyes at the warning.

* * *

It's been five years since Wonwoo received the box.

_"You could still use it, you know." Jeonghan surmised as he frowned at the paper from Wonwoo's Indicator package._

_"He could?" Joshua turned his head in surprise at his Intended's statement._

_"Yeah, it's wordplay, you see? He just has to be careful." Jeonghan put the note back on the table for the three of them to read it. "As long as you don't take a photo of your Intended, you wouldn't go blind."_

_Wonwoo rolled his eyes. "Do you mean to tell me I can take photos of everything but people, and I'd be okay?"_

_Jeonghan nodded, satisfied. "Yep, that sounds about right."_

_Joshua's eyes scanned the note over and over again. "Sounds legit, buuuuuuuut," he trailed off. "What if... he shoots a skyscraper and his Intended is in one of the windows by accident?"_

_Jeonghan snorted in amusement. "Totally possible. Wonwoo, just generally, don't photograph anything with discernible human figures."_

It wasn't easy taking that first shot without panicking about people getting potentially caught in it, but Wonwoo has gotten comfortable with it. Still, his own personal skill never improved, even when he tried learning with another camera. Wonwoo has always been able to see the world's beauty; he just couldn't capture it on a camera as he sees it. But _the_ camera allowed him to do that, to share that vision with others. So, he continued to use it.

His specialty lay in nature photography. Going on photo walks in the woods meant he didn't have to worry about people getting into the shot.

Wonwoo has lived a comfortable life due to the camera from his Indicator package, and he's been so unbothered by the conditions it had set for him for so long he almost thinks he doesn't need to meet his Intended.

And yet, he yearns.

* * *

Wonwoo didn't mean to bring the camera on the hike, but it was almost force of habit that he grabbed its bag when Mingyu dragged him out of the apartment at 5 in the morning. The younger has been Wonwoo's roommate for 3 years now. Excitable, charming, and fiercely quick-witted, he was able to keep up with Wonwoo well.

Impulsive, too. Mingyu nudged Wonwoo awake at around 4:30, announcing that he wanted to go on a hike and that Wonwoo should come too.

They're at the end of the hiking trail, a hill with a great view of the upcoming sunrise. Wonwoo is still trying to catch his breath from the unanticipated hike.

"Hyung, you can take a picture of the sunrise. It's too good of an opportunity to miss." Mingyu murmurs.

Wonwoo tenses up. Mingyu doesn't know all the details, but he knew enough. That Wonwoo never, under any circumstances, takes photos of people.

"I'll stand a ways away, so you don't have to worry about me." Mingyu smiles, and for a moment, when the first rays of the sunrise hit his face, Wonwoo feels his breath stutter.

"Alright." he manages to blurt out.

He finds a comfortable angle and starts snapping shots of the horizon. In the early morning's peace, he once again ponders how utterly unfair his Indicators seem to be.

He shifts, peering into his viewfinder to refocus, and it lands on Mingyu.

In the early morning light, he is ethereal. Too beautiful, it makes Wonwoo's heart clench. His finger hovers over the shutter button.

In that one moment, Wonwoo knows that this is it. This is the image that would be his end, and yet also his most hopeful beginning. He takes a deep breath, accepting his fate.

He closes his eyes, trying to capture the moment in his mind's eye, knowing that it is his last.

 _Click_.

Wonwoo's eyes are closed, for he fears the price he had to pay, even when his heart is running wild, telling him he made the right choice. He hears Mingyu's footsteps running towards him. He is rambling something, trying to get words out too fast that they tumble over each other. Wonwoo can't hear him over the roaring in his ears, his head reeling over the monumental moment.

Mingyu is still speaking, something about _his_ Indicators, about a photograph. He sounds so in near tears that Wonwoo opens his eyes to reach out and comfort him.

Instead of darkness, he is met by Mingyu's eyes staring into his own. Confused, Wonwoo looks down at the camera in his hands. Mingyu's hands are trembling, and in them, he holds a photograph that has visibly been folded and unfolded many times.

Wonwoo tunes in to Mingyu's words and deciphers enough to understand what he was saying.

"Wonwoo-hyung, you're my Intended."

He looks back up at Mingyu, into those beautiful kind eyes, shock running through his whole body. When he finally opens his mouth to reply, his voice cracks.

"But you're not mine."

**Author's Note:**

> Mingyu's Indicator: 
> 
> Kim Mingyu,  
> While this photograph is in your possession, you will be regarded as beautiful by the world. But when the time comes for this exact image to be taken by your Intended, be warned. To be recognized by them means to lose what matters most.


End file.
